[YANS] (aka Yet Another New Story!) NaNoWriMo 2017 (COMPLETE)

Day 11 - Too Long; Didn't Write

"So we should be at 18,333 words today, right?" not-Daniel looked over at the Muse who deep into another fanfic binge, trying her hardest to ignore the fact that the Writer was gone and they were massively behind. "Is she giving up?"

"...Probably not." The Muse grudgingly admitted. "But it doesn't look good. Most of the years where we've fallen behind and still won we were further ahead than this." She reluctantly put away her tablet and got up to survey the mess of the writing desk.

A lone plot bunny was nibbling sadly at the margins of the existing wordcount. It looked up hopefully as the Muse approached, ready to do mischief.

"It's not in the story proper, but would you like to get some of your backstory out and onto the page?" The Muse petted the plot bunny, who twitched its ears evilly and looked cute. "At least until we can track down Khany or Dragon."

"It would be nice to figure out why I'm burning the town down," said not-Daniel, and maybe get a real name. He got up from his comfy chair to come help.

"That I think we can manage...." The Muse picked up a pen and started writing.

In the distance the story mists began to churn.

~*~*~*~*~

Jashn was born seven hundred years ago in a massive walled city that was guarded by an ancient dragon. He was an orphan, left on the steps of the dragon's temple and raised in its priesthood. At sixteen he was taken into the ranks of the Dragon's Children and partook in the ceremony that bound his life to the dragon's own.

He was one of a small handful of elites who acted on the dragon's behalf across the massive city. Jashn worked magics, investigated conflicts, and dispensed the dragon's justice as it directed.

By the time he turned twenty he'd lost track of number of lives that had ended at his feet or that had been saved. The city churned on, peaceful in the aggregate, and the Children tended to the weeds.

It was nothing like he'd imagined his life to be and it was everything he'd ever wanted. He devoted his life to the ancient cause that was so much bigger than himself. As long as he lived the city would never fall.

And in return he would live forever.

~*~*~*~*~

"Well, I wasn't expecting you to invent a whole religion, but I suppose that makes sense." The Muse poked at the newly created city. "So this is off to the west then? The river was to the south of town and the hills were to the east so if it's flowing downhill to the sea it would need to be going west."

"I can work with that," not-Daniel made sure that his new name fit, trying a few alternate spellings before settling back on Jashn. Satisfied he got up and went over to the whiteboard.

"It needs to be far enough away that the town wouldn't have heard of us, at least as anything more as a 'this city exists'.'" He scrolled to a blank space and started doodling with a blue marker. "So they are here, with a river to the south and hills and a mountain range to the east. We'll be over here to the west, north of the delta where their river flows into the sea, but not too far. We want to avoid the swamp, but for trade we need to be near enough that the riverboats would come up to us."

The Muse frowned at the sketches. "Couldn't the dragon redirect the river or build a canal up to you? Sort of an alternate route to the sea? I can't seem them being able to control a delta well enough to keep it from turning into a swamp, but maybe a small offshoot? This is a pretty massive river, right?"

"So we take the northernmost branch of the delta, fortify it a bit and control just that portion. Make it just the right size for boat travel and then build in a cove or bay to protect the ships. Then we have a sea transport and river transport-- would be enough to support a city." Jashn sketched out the new layout.